Wiper for floating roof tanks



Sept 25 1951 F. l.. GoLDsBY ETAL 2,568,728

wIFFR FOR FLOATING RooF TANKS Filed Feb. 14, 1947 /r j Y m Patented Sept. 25, 1951 Application February 14, 1947, Serial No. 728,468

1 Claim.

This invention relates to a oating roof tank, and more particularly to a means for excluding moisture from the space between the'inner sides of the tank and the sealing shoes thereof.

Liquid storage tanks having a floating roof are customarily provided with a plurality of shoes supported by the roof and adapted to slidably contact the inner walls of the tank. Generally, a flexible seal is provided between the shoes and the edge of the roof to seal the annular space therebetween. While the shoes are held against the inner tank walls with some pressure, it is impossible to make the contact air-tight or water-tight. Consequently, water often seeps into the tank'through the space between the shoes and the wall, Vwhich water contaminates the product stored in the tank, and is particularly undesirable with dehydrated products. When floating roofs are used in a severe climate, such water is apt to freeze and obstruct the movement of the shoes upwardly and downwardly against the wall, or even to freeze them solidly against the sides of the tank.

We have invented a means for preventing water from reaching the space between the shoe and the wall which comprises broadly a wiper constructed of resilient material which is adapted to be urged against the side wall above the shoe, which not only prevents moisture from entering the space between the shoe and the wall, but also effectively wipes ofi moisture clinging to the walls Yupon upward movement of the shoe.

The invention will be described as embodied in the drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a portion of the side walls of a floating roof tank and a portion of the shoes therein and including our invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section along lines 2-2 of Fig. l; and,

Figs. 3 and 4 are taken like Fig. 2 and show modifications of the invention.

Referring now to the drawings, I indicates the side Wall of a liquid storage tank, a shoe II of usual construction is supported by the floating roof of the tank and urged against the side walls of the tank by means not shown herein, it being understood that our wiper may be used with any usual form of shoe and hanger. A flexible seal I2 is attached to the upper portion of the shoe and extends therefrom to the roof to seal the space between the shoe and the roof. In the embodiment shown in the drawings, the flexible seal is held against the shoe by means of a fabric clamp I3. Attached to the fabric clamp by means of bolt I5 is a resilient bracket I6 which extends upwardly therefrom to a point a short distance above the upper portion of the shoe. A wiper I1 is attached to the bracket by means of a. bolt I8, and thereby urged against the tank Wall. The wiper is made of resilient material, preferably an abrasion resistant synthetic rubber, and is provided with a plurality of integral exible lingers I9. The fingers are constructed so that they will liex upwardly or downwardly against the inner wall of the tank with vertical movement of the shoe. The wiper, of course, extends about the entire periphery of the tank and effectively prevents moisture running down the sides of the tank from reaching the space between the shoe and the roof. Furthermore, upward movement of the shoe carries the wiper before it and cleans the side walls from any clinging moisture. An annularflexible sealing member 20 extends about the tank and is adapted to seal the space between the wiper and shoe to exclude moisture from that space. In the embodiment shown in Fig. 2, the flexible sealing member is attached to the wiper, being held between it and the ilexible bracket, and is clamped by the fabric clamp I3 against the flexible seal I2 which in turn is pressed against the shoe. In the embodiment shown in Fig, 3, the sealing member is an integral extruded tail extending downwardly from the wiper and held against the flexible seal`by means of the fabric clamp. In the embodiment shown in Fig. 4, the lowermost finger I9 of the wiper is wedged between the ared upper edge of the shoe and the side of the tank to eect a seal.

While we have shown and described certain embodiments of our invention, it is to be understood that it is capable of many modifications. Changes, therefore, in the construction and arrangement may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as disclosed in the appended claim.

We claim:

In a liquid storage tank having a floating roof, one or more shoes adapted to slidably contact the inner tank walls, and a flexible seal between the roof and the shoes, means for excluding water from the space between the shoes and the tank walls comprising an annular member for holding said flexible seal against the upper portion of the shoes, a plurality of circumferentially spaced resilient'brackets attached to said annular member and extending above the shoes, an annular wiper attached to the upper portion of said brackets, said wiper beingformed entirely of resilient material having a plurality of annularA finger portions adapted to be urged against the inner tank walls by said resilient brackets with the upper exposed surface of the wiper slanting downwardly and inwardly from its outer tank wall contacting edge to its inner edge, said wiper 5 being adapted to retain said downwardly and inwardly sloping surface under all conditions of movement against the sidewalls of the tank, and an annular flexible sealing member secured in sealing engagement with said wiper and the upper portion of the shoes to seal the space between the wiper and the shoes.

FRED L. GOLDSBY.

CLIFFORD M. 0R12.. 15

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,893,162 Cranz V ,..v.. g Jan. 3, 1933 2,072,798 Cranz Mar. 2, 1937 2,318,135 Wiggins ---i May 4, 1943 10 2,427,171 Wiggins i- Sept. 9, 1947 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Y Date 487,774 Great Britain June 24, 1938 540.391v Germany Dec. 15, 1931 

